Friday, November 26, 2010

We headed over to my parents house for a wonderful dinner and time with family and friends! It was my family, my sister's friend and John's brother who joined us. There was TONS of food and a great time reflecting on all of our blessings.

I LOVE Thanksgiving for several reasons.......

It is a day dedicated to reflecting and being thankful! As a Christian that is something that I try to practice regularly and to praise God for the abudant blessings in my life but even I need a reminder sometimes to sing praises and I love that we have a day where believers/non believers are encouraged to give thanks!

I love the family gathering nature of Thanksgiving without the pressures of Christmas shopping and all the other traditions that although I love about Christmas can sometimes add a burden. I love that it is just about gathering and breaking bread together!

I love watching LOTS OF FOOTBALL!

I love how it kicks off the Christmas Season!

As I reflect...here is what I am thankful for this year.....

This year I am thankful for family! I am so beyond blessed to have my parents just down the street (0.7 miles) from us and that they have an amazing relationship with Peyton and with John. I am incredibly blessed to have their support, encouragement, guidance, wisdom and sometimes their extra hands while navigating being a mom, wife and a person.

I am thankful for our ability to get pregnant. We are already very blessed to have been given Peyton and we are thankful that we were able to get pregnant so easily and for the healthy pregnancy (minus my discomfort) we are having with Graham. So many wonderful people would love to be parents and can't and we are very thankful for this phase in our life.....even if I don't realize it every day!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

When we found out that we were expecting we knew that we had enough space in our house as long as it was used to its fullest. There were several big projects that needed to happen in order for us to become more organized and use our space since we were converting the study/guest room into Graham's room!

First was the laundry room organization which could have been used a long time before! Second was the master bedroom closet and adding a bookshelf in there for our office supplies and books....done....a little full in our closet but it fits! Then it was organizing the garage/garage sale and organizing the attic.....the garage sale is done and the garage and attic organization is in progress. Finally, if I ever found something that I really liked we wanted a desk in our bedroom to have a space to work on bills or anything else like that. I wanted something fun, funky and SMALL! Very hard to find without paying a fortune but I finally found something and we picked it up on Tuesday!

I bought it from a woman who has her own furniture painting/finishing business outside of her home and actually has a really awesome testimony of how she accepted Christ. She always has fun stuff but whenever I get around to looking it is always sold so I was super excited when I saw that this was still available. It looks great in our room and is just perfect for us!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

I wanted to take fun pictures of Peyton this weekend at Zilker Park in Austin or on campus but she was never in the right mood at the right time. So, since we got back late last night and needed to sleep in/rest we didn't go to church and instead went to the park where I was able to get a couple of pictures of my firecracker! Peyton has no fear! She is so confident and almost to a fault. Especially when daddy comes with us...nothing is off limits!

This weekend we took advantage of the Longhorns awful football season and made a trip to Austin to take Peyton to her first game! At the beginning of the season we thought Austin could be a fun trip away but didn't want to pay the average of $70 per a ticket for something we were not sure if Peyton would even sit through. So, when I look the other week and found tickets for $8 per ticket we took advantage of that and a steal on a hotel that we bid on through Priceline...about a 70% discount! So, Friday afternoon we dropped off Titus to be boarded and off we went!

Overall the weekend had some pleasant memories but I don't know what Peyton's deal was but she was CRANKY! She has been cranky for the past several days and I haven't figured out why but pretty much there were lots of meltdowns, constantly hearing the word "no" and just a fussy baby. Since she was like that before we left and then woke up today just as fussy so it isn't a travel thing and I just want this to pass ASAP!

We got to Austin and of course Peyton had just fallen asleep about 30 minutes prior as opposed to when we left Houston as planned so we drove to the hotel and John and I took turns bringing in stuff and getting settled and then we drove to campus and Peyton woke up along the way. We stopped and saw the big "cow." We then saw the "tower" which she LOVED! She constantly kept asking to see the tower! We went on a walk around campus to stretch our legs and Peyton was very amused with the amount of stairs around, rocks, squirrels and had a blast!

We then went to eat at Trudy's and we had awful planning. We did not do well as parents! We should have left campus a whole lot earlier or gone for an early dinner. We know that there is always a wait and I don't know why we didn't plan better. So, we showed up and waited for an hour (twice as long as we were told)...not fun for Peyton and finally sat down to eat close to 8:00! She had eaten snacks and a late lunch so she wasn't too hungry but she was tired of waiting. First thing we ordered, before drinks was rice, beans and some tortillas and the waitress was amazing and brought it out super fast! She did wonderful through dinner which was nice considering the wait was pretty rough and I was expecting to not make it through dinner. We were sitting by the bar area so the televisions and drunk college students were amusing enough for her as well as mom's reenactment of Toy Story with her little figurines. You didn't know that Buzz Light year loves tortillas did you?

We headed to the hotel, got settled and all slept. Well, Peyton slept! We had two double beds so if Peyton wanted her own she could have it. Well, she wanted Mommy to sleep with her but between her taking up so much room and my belly I had to move to the other bed when she fell asleep and since I was so uncomfortable with not having my pillows, an uncomfortable bed etc, I slept all by myself in that bed and John got stuck with Peyton. She did sleep through the night which is what counts right!

We woke up and headed to Kerbey Lane for some of my favorite PUMPKIN PANCAKES! I ordered this huge plate of eggs, sausage and pancakes so I could share with Peyton. Intention was to give her a piece of my pancakes and all the eggs and sausages. Peyton's plan...steal a WHOLE pancake and refuse the eggs and sausage. I did enjoy the one pancake she left me with. I love Kerbey Lane breakfast and wish I could eat there every morning.

After breakfast Peyton needed a nap so we drove around Austin and she slept in the car. I found numerous houses that I would like to move to...mostly in Westlake Hills....maybe someday! We also drove through Zilker park which I miss so much! I loved taking Titus there and running and just enjoying the outdoors. We ended up at the Domain, a new outdoor shopping center, which is nice and has a wide variety of super expensive stores and more affordable ones. There we found this nice armadillo which provided much needed entertainment. We followed up with a trip to Chick Fila and then it was game time!It was a REALLY REALLY long walk to our seats. We paid way too much for parking to try to be closer to the stadium as opposed to what we normally do which is park far north of campus and walk. We were close to the stadium but our seats were up there (what you get for $8 seats) so we had to walk a long ways. As soon as we got into the stadium I got her some cotton candy and she held on tight to her present as daddy carried her to our seats and she quickly devoured it when we sat down.

Football is not as interesting after you are finished with your cotton candy and she hung in there for a little while but after multiple timeouts and nothing interesting to point out she was ready to get out and see the "tower," I asked if some skittles would do in the meantime and that bought us another quarter. I almost spent more in concessions than I did tickets which makes me laugh because pre Peyton I never bought anything at a game!

After her sugar binge she was getting a little bored with this football stuff! She would occasionally stand up and cheer and be silly but mostly she just wanted to cuddle with daddy.

We made it to halftime and watched the band...she is checking it out trying to decide if she is a band girl or a cheerleader. She was a little more interested in the cheerleaders/dancers which I don't think daddy was too happy with!

I asked her if she wanted to go and she told me she wanted to go to "Papa's," well, considering that was three hour drive away she decided that rolling in the grass behind the stadium was good enough. She had lots of fun but keep trying to run off and play with two different groups of boys. There were two groups of girls but she wanted to play football or keep away with the boys!

We walked back to say good bye to the tower and find the squirrel that she saw the day before and then headed back to the car and headed home. I turned on Toy Story for her and before we made it out of the campus area she was out and slept the majority the way home. When we got home she went straight to her bed and crawled in and was out.

It was fun seeing Peyton experience a place that means so much to John and I and that I LOVE and MISS so much! The last time we were in Austin I was pregnant with Peyton and the last time I went to a game was my senior year where I was engaged about to venture into a new life in Houston, getting married....how much has changed in four years!

I joked with John and Peyton when we were leaving the game that in 16 years or so we could be dropping her off there to start classes! That would make me so happy....mostly because I love Austin and have such fond memories of UT......... and I would be more than happy to visit!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Peyton's school had their very own Thanksgiving feast on Thursday however it was far from the traditional feast you would expect.

All the kids were instructed to bring their favorite food. The teachers asked earlier in the week and some kids did say what it was however as expected Peyton didn't let them know and all week when I asked her what her favorite food was I was told, "no." That might be her favorite word but we can't make that! So, I decided that she loves muffins a.k.a cupcakes and she loves to help me bake so we made pumpkin muffins. Most of the other food available was lots of nuggets, macaroni, cheese, crackers and various fruits. There was one kid who apparently liked broccoli and rice casserole! It was super yummy!

My parents came with me and Peyton was super excited to see them and kept yelling Papa from her seat when she saw us. It was lots of fun getting to eat lunch with her and I think she had a good time as well. My mom took pictures with her camera so when we head over there later I will go ahead and upload some!

Fun times and let the feasting begin....so looking forward to Thanksgiving! I love it!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Tuesday I had an ultrasound with the specialist to determine if anything has changed as a result of my cramping/pain. Their thought has been that it wouldn't cause any changes in regards to my cervix etc but they wanted to make sure. Since my parents didn't get to see any ultrasound with Peyton because they were overseas, I asked them to come and they both came and I am so happy they did! My mom of course cried as soon as he appeared on the screen.

In addition to checking my cervix via ultrasound (looks good), they checked the placenta and its placement (also great) and then did a full anatomy scan on Graham and he looks wonderful! He is healthy, growing (just over a pound now) and is very active! All of his organs are working and forming as they should and I loved seeing him again and having my parents share in that experience. The technician also did a 3D image of his face for us and I think she mostly did it because my parents were there with me. He is so cute! You can't tell too much about his features, he just looks like a cute squishy baby! Graham is currently breached which is kind of amusing since he is in the exact same spot and position as Peyton! But it is early and he could move around and it doesn't matter either way since I will be having a repeat c-section. I do want him to move so his legs won't be up by his face and have any of the hip problems we avoided but could have been faced with Peyton. Remember that?

I will try to upload some pictures later but we have had a busy week and even busier weekend so no promises. His due date did read March 22 instead of March 19 on the ultrasound but he is measuring a week early still so that puts him at March 15....so since I am having a c-section we are guessing anywhere between March 7-15. Either way....a long ways to go...ugh...but I have to keep this precious baby cooking!!

Monday, November 8, 2010

We are now at 21 weeks with Graham! He is moving around like crazy, kicking and getting stronger. Some of his kicks hurt! I am doing much better on the pain level/cramping which is a relief. It takes much more and longer for the pain to come and typically the pain level is about half. Unfortunately since it takes longer for the pain to come unless if I am really careful I tend to keep going and then get hit pretty bad with pain but for the most part if I remember to rest, not pick up Peyton, not do any household chores, I can get through the day!\Also, so exciting this week....my college roommate/maid of honor and good friend Megan (I went to her wedding 26 pregnant with Peyton) found out they were having a boy! She is due a week after me and I am so excited to be going through this adventure with her and excited that we are both having little boys!

This week has been pretty calm and we spent a bunch of time working on the nursery and made HUGE strides with it! I know it is a little crazy to be working on it so early but I have all of the stuff (furniture etc) and I figured that with my pain levels and not knowing what the rest of this pregnancy has in store for me, we should work on it while I am able to help (mostly give direction). I am in LOVE with his nursery! I love sitting in their, praying for him and just being still and feeling him kick and bonding with him! We have the crib, bookcase (with toys/books organized), rug, dresser, glidder, curtains up and even most of his clothes washed and organized (mostly since that was the only task I could really help with). I have some small craft projects to do this week, order some stuff off Etsy, get a lamp and my mom and I need to finish the bed skirt and bumper pad but I am so excited! I will post pictures soon!

Today we went on a tour of the hospital. I will actually delivering at a different hospital than with Peyton because my doctor has moved practices. I was a little nervous about being at a different hospital since I had a great experience at Clear Lake Regional but after our tour I feel much better and am comfortable at Memorial Herman Southeast and it allows me to stay with my doctor that I trust and like. I did start getting a little nervous about the whole idea of going through the c-section again, the fear of getting the epidural and the recovery but I just need to pray for peace and comfort. It was also a super crazy experience talking with John about how we will work out childcare for Peyton while we are there, the whole process of bringing her to see the baby for the first time and just the expectations etc for the birth of Graham. Last time it was just us, family and friends....now we have such an important other person to consider!

We have been talking a bunch about how to make this transition easier for Peyton and here is what we have so far....One of the reasons I also started on the nursery early is so Peyton and I could talk about Graham's bed, room etc and use her baby dolls on the bouncer etc so she isn't so possessive of her stuff. She already said, "my bed," when she saw the crib and she hasn't been in it for over 6 months. We told her it was for the baby and we put her baby doll in it and now she hasn't said anything. We are going to start reading more books about babies, being a big sister starting in January and also get out more baby stuff (swing, carseat) to help get her used to seeing everything.

As for at the hospital....we are going to wait until the next morning for her to come so I can recover from the c-section and let the drugs wear off a little, then the hospital gives Big Sister's their own little special bracelet (like mommy's and the babies) and even a little birthday cake to bring to the baby to help celebrate! When Peyton comes she will be coming with my parents and it will be just them and John and I so it isn't overwhelming. I also want to make sure that I am not holding the baby so I can greet her and love on her first and then show her the baby (sounds silly but it is similar to how we introduced Peyton to Titus). We are also going to give my parents a present for Peyton to bring to the baby and we are going to have a present waiting for her from Graham. Does anyone have any other suggestions for making the first meeting and just whole process easier for her?

This week is really slow which is good for my pain levels but bad because I get bored. I will probably work some on the little projects for the nursery and also finish some projects that I have been meaning to do in Peyton's room (finish sewing a bed skirt and lining her curtains). Have a wonderful week everyone!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

We have unofficially settled on a name for baby #2 for a couple of weeks now which pretty much meant that I no longer offered suggestions and started calling him the name to see if it fit and also researched any potential issues with the name. John needed a little bit more time to make sure that this was the name and we prayed together on Monday actually using the name and he said it felt right and last night he finally gave me the go-ahead to reveal our little man's name.

So Baby #2 will be called...........

Graham Ryerson Acord

I am so excited and love his name and it feels so right calling him Graham. It was such work figuring out a name! I started when we found out we were pregnant saving a note on my phone with any and every name that possibly sounded like a possibility and so we found out it was a boy we already had around 40 boy names and 30 girl names!

We then went through and removed some names that John would in no way name our son (I was a little more liberal in unique name choices), added a couple more and kept doing that process every now and then. It was so hard! I even put it out on Facebook and actually got more suggestions that I loved which just added to our list! So much harder than I thought! We then ended up with three somehow and after much deliberation we were left between Hudson (a name I always loved), and Graham and for some reason I could not get Hudson to feel right. So Graham it is!

His middle name is my Great Great Grandpa Topping's name. We wanted his middle name to have some meaning to us and Peyton's middle name is Elise which is a variation of Elizabeth, my middle name and so I asked my mom for some family names and Ryerson came up. We love that it is unique but also comes from my family and even more so from my Grandpa Topping's side who passed away earlier this year and he meant so much to me.

So, there you have it....Graham Ryerson Acord! We love calling him by a name and are excited to hear other people use it now too!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Sunday we made it to 20 weeks which is halfway if I was to go to 40 but my doctor has mentioned that with everything going on with the low lying placenta, cramps and anything else that might happen it looks more like 37 weeks so....I am OVER HALFWAY! Sweet! I made it to about 37.5 weeks with Peyton so we will see!

I had an appointment last Thursday and it went much better than I expected which was a relief. My doctor asked about the cramping and I told her as nicely as I could that I was miserable and frustrated and didn't like the answer that I have an "irritable uterus." She was equally as frustrated which was reassuring but also had no idea why I was feeling the way I was. She told me she would look into it, call two new high risk doctors to get some opinions and let me know by Tuesday. Other than the whole pain issue, the baby is growing, heart beat was great and everything is going well.

The next day I got a call from my doctor personally saying that she was up pretty late and talked to the two new doctors who mentioned that yes, this is uncommon, but they have around 2-3 patients a year that have these symptoms with no real preterm labor symptoms or changes in their cervix (like me). They have used some of the medications that stop preterm labor to help and they both had differing opinions on what medication to use but one had the same suggestion that my doctor was leaning towards before she talked with them. So, she prescribed me some medication that is used in stopping preterm labor but in a smaller dose and with the instructions to use only when needed and not every 6 hours as directed. Pretty much since bed rest relieves the pain completely the idea is to rest as much as possible and take the medicine when I am unable to rest as much as I would like or in too much pain. I have only taken it twice, once shopping on Saturday with my mom and sister and then yesterday before Trick or Treating, and it helps but the best thing is complete rest. I have also noticed that when I rest for a whole day (complete bed rest) I can manage the pain more for the coming week.

So, praise for some medication that can provide relief and also discovering that rest helps even more. Pray that I am able to rest as much as possible so I don't have to take the medication unless needed. My next appointment is November 16 with a high risk doctor to do an ultrasound to check my cervix and make sure that the cramping hasn't caused any changes in terms of dilating/going into preterm labor and we will be looking to see where the placenta is and if it is still in a safe position.

I didn't think my belly has grown much but I saw my sister yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks and apparently she thought I have grown significantly. I am still right around the same size/measurements as I was with Peyton however I wear less maternity clothes at this point than I did with her. Maybe I am just more confident in being pregnant this time or not as excited about "buying new clothes" or I know how I will have plenty of time to wear the unflattering and not stylish maternity clothes in a month or two.Other big event this weekend was Peyton's third Halloween experience! She started getting sick Friday and then more so Saturday and by Sunday was pretty cranky and had a slight fever. We rested all day and I was going to push the issue but I figured we could do a couple of houses and see how she felt. I brought out two costumes for her and she decided to be the cheerleader over the princess even after the Longhorns embarrassing loss to Baylor. She is a true Longhorn fan!The whole Trick or Treating experience was the best medicine for her and she was super happy and into it. She kind of said, "Trick or Treat," and "Thank you," but mostly before or after they opened/closed the door. She loved carrying her pumpkin bag and wouldn't let anyone help her at all and she walked the majority of the way which was pretty impressive. She would tell us over and over that she needed to walk to the "doors" or she would say, "more doors."

She was pretty worn out by the end. After she got all of her goods we went to Granny and Papa's house and she went through her candy. She would open up a piece, either look at it or take a small bite and then say no and move on. Most of the time she wouldn't even eat it so we had tons of opened candy at the end which I ended up giving to Papa or throwing out which helped reduce our candy load significantly.

It was fun and we are excited about next year heading out with our 3 year old and a 6 month old! Goodness...that will be wild....and scary!

About Us

We are a family of four (soon to be five) plus a dog who currently live in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia!

This blog started in 2008 as a way to document our pregnancy with our daughter, Peyton, and keep family informed of what was going on. And then it continued as a way to chronicle of life as parents, becoming a stay at home mom, becoming pregnant with baby #2, Graham, and then our move and experiences, travels and living the expat life in the Middle East and now the upcoming arrival of baby #3 to be born in Saudi Arabia!

Our life is sometimes boring, sometimes crazy but we are so very blessed!